Sharing Your Wings
by y-ye
Summary: What almost no one knows is that when the Small Giant had turned around, eyes alight with triumph, Hinata found colors. But he had no way to tell the Small Giant. So, for four hard years, he works to become a great volleyball player... And to go to Karasuno in hopes of meeting his soul bound someway, somehow.


A small figure is walking his bike back home, purposefully lingering near the shops as he mulls over the future. Middle School was a time for extracurriculars, and he was practically being begged to join the track and field team before he even stepped foot on campus. True, it was something he would excel at. But...

He felt no passion chasing after the skyline alone. Which you always were, no matter what the coach might say. That was all it ever was when the skies were black and grey and white. And none of the other teams aided by running and jumped would accept him because of his height- Basketball in particular came to mind.

Belonging somewhere, with someone, was what he wanted most. Friends were awesome but he wanted... He wanted to see the colors.

Eyes drifting to the TV in a show window, his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of something new.

"He is surely a Small Giant!"

There was something not black or white on the screen. It stood out starkly on the uniform's collar and sides amongst black and white. Later Hinata would pull out the book of colors his mother kept in the closet in secret and learn it was called Orange. Orange, like his own hair.

The figure on screen ran for the net, crouched down for the barest second before launching himself upwards, and allowing his hand to slap a ball that came flying in from his right. The announcer went on to tell that this was the Ace of the Karasuno team, the unlikely man of a mere 170 centimeters amongst men with twenty centimeters on his own height.

It was like watching someone take flight.

Then he landed, sneakers squeaking on the flooring, turning around and inadvertently facing the camera. For many years yet, it would be the only glance he would have of his soul mate. His eyes were dark with excitement, and his intensity sent shivers up Hinata's spine. The number ten decorated his uniform.

His irises were cornflower blue.

And then the TV went to a commercial.

"It's time for the program to change," A grandma sighed, rising from her place on the bench across the street. "They'll be back to golf any minute now."

So Hinata ran back home, a new thrumming love for Volleyball in his heart, and an entirely new desire to meet that small giant for himself. They were too far apart in age to go to school together, but surely if he did well enough in volleyball, then one day...!

And in that moment he fell in love with his soulmate, because they had not come peacefully into his life. They brought direction, questions, and a new thrill.

Hinata was only eleven. He had no idea that when the Small Giant left Karasuno, so would he leave the volleyball scene. The only people who knew him would move on too unless tethered to Miyagi for some reason or other. They wouldn't know where he'd gone either, too far away from him to know much beyond reputation and a fading image in their minds.

How were you suppose to find a person with a name they'd discarded?

o~o~o

"Why do you insist on playing volleyball?" Was a question Hinata often heard at school and rarely answered. Izumi and Koumi were the only ones he'd ever bothered putting thought into it for.

"For me, of course. It's also the only thing I have of my soulmate- for now."

Izumi and Koumi looked at each other, swallowing. Their hands hid against each other, trying to squeeze the fear out. They too were matched, but it'd been a sweet little thing. Meeting through Hinata in the first week of school, learning the names of colors from Hinata's mouth. Easier than his own, he supposed.

"How come?" Curiosity, and guilt, and sympathy.

"Promise not to tell?" Tone still too chipper, eyes a bit too eager.

"We promise." And they did, still grasping on to each other.

"I saw him through the television screen. The Small Giant." A slow grin overtook Hinata's face. "I love the sport, don't get me wrong. But if I get good enough..."

"He'll see you," Izumi breathed.

"Isn't he kind of old?" Kouji pointed out with eyebrows scrunched.

"Well yeah, but like. Only six years older." Voice a little weak on those last words, Hinata thought about the seemingly inescapable gap between them.

"That's old, Shouyou."

"Your FACE is old, Koumi!"

"Shouyou!" Ah, Izumi was laughing even as he said it in his best stern tone. Kouji in turn couldn't seem to get mad.

o~o~o

Clouds and buildings and a journal he couldn't read as he stares at the pages intently. He accepts it all without pondering where he was, not quite able to remember, not caring to try.

Rising up is slow and easy. A hand pressed against his back, familiar heat that makes him turn around and smile. Cornflower blue and hair black as pitch. The Small Giant, looking just slightly down to meet his eyes.

Oh, Hinata thinks, this must be a dream.

Their hands entwine like magnets and they're running off, leaving the journal behind. Feet thudding against the rooftops, leaping effortlessly over alleyways and hauling each other up onto buildings just a bit too tall the jump up onto. The sky is a powdery blue and the clouds are the lightest grey. There's the green and brown and bursts of colors too specific for him to name in potted plants hanging on balconies they run past.

It's the feeling of adventure Hinata's always wanted, with the person he'd been frantically trying to catch up to.

But a gap too great comes, one the Small Giant leaps across like it's nothing, like he's flying. Hinata hesitates at the edge, staring the drop. The street below is full of black and white and so, so many grays. Like how it used to be. Taking a step backwards, he looks up and the Small Giant is staring at him with fire and stubbornness in his eyes.

One breath, two breaths. Retreating a few more paces back, he starts to run, and then-

Well, then he wakes up.

o~o~o

The front door is shut carefully when Hinata's supposed to arrive home, and that's the moment Natsu realizes that something is terribly wrong.

Natsu is the one who watches Hinata's rise and fall and recovery, all from the moment he came home and started mouthing the names of colors. They shared them. Natsu would in turn teach them to her match, but the colors were something they forgot to share with mom or dad or their family. It was their secret. Their little secret happiness.

Scrambling for the door, Natsu takes in the paleness of Hinata's skin, the downturned eyes, the shaking hands. She is too young to know the name for heartache, but this must be what it is.

Watching as he slips his shoes off mindlessly and pushes them to one side, Natsu takes his hand and leads him to the kitchen. Mom is out shopping and Dad is still at work. He sits down without a word and that's scary somehow.

Pulling two ice pops out of the fridge, she makes Hinata grab onto one.

"What happened?"

"Lots of things," Hinata manages to get out, hands uselessly trying to peel the plastic away. "He's gone. I can't find..." His hands grasp the still untorn plastic and squeeze without noticing the cold. Vision blurring, he raised a fisted hand and rubbed slowly over one eye.

Today he'd faced against Kageyama Tobio and lost, and that hurt. He'd also found out the Small Giant had graduated a while ago and had promptly dropped off the radar. Even people who'd known him didn't seem to know where he'd gone, to university, to the city, to work. Not that he'd been on the radar very much- Hinata still had no idea what his name was. Just that nickname everyone knew.

Only knowing what everyone else knew was salt to his wounded heart.

"You will." There are a lot of things that could mean. You'll find the Small Giant again. You'll find your happiness. You'll win the next match. Give chase, for god's sake. But this was Natsu, but she meant it plainly. Hinata will do whatever he thinks he can't. Natsu knows this more than any other truth, sees more in him than colors and love and ice cream.

"But I want him now," And Hinata hates whining about this, hates feeling like this. He didn't know the man's name, he didn't know anything. It was stupid to get this worked up just because he could see in color because of the man. But that didn't negate the fact he was.

"He's wanted you too, probably." Natsu sticks the dessert in her mouth, staring at Hinata earnestly.

For now, that thought is enough.

o~o~o

Karasuno is a lot different than Hinata had imagined, people wise. They also had a wide variety of hair colors Hinata had to bite back talking about.

Yes, Hinata Shouyou was rather hoping not to let people know he could see colors. Because then they'd want to know who had made him see those colors. How exactly should one go about saying they don't know where the hell their soul mate is after finding them once? Pity was never something he needed or wanted.

So for a long while he doesn't mention when Tsukishima's wearing a red and a green sock, or that Suga has literal grey hair (What happened there?), or that Kageyama always wears clashing colors on top of his horrid fashion sense outside school.

Kenma however is a different story. There's something about that setter that makes Hinata feel safe, as far as secrets go. So a few weeks into texting back and forth he asks if Kenma can see the colors, too.

[KENMA (=ＴェＴ=): Yeah, Since I met Kuroo. You can imagine how shocked my parents were ( ｣｡╹o╹｡)｣  
It's kind of private, but I don't know why. But you didn't tell anyone either, huh.]

[Shouyou: Yeah! But mine's more because we haven't actually met. I saw him on the TV when I was eleven!]

[KENMA (=ＴェＴ=): Must be tough. It's like one of those games where they see a picture in the magazine and suddenly they have to find a way to meet them. Who is it?]

[Shouyou: Well, I dunno if you know him! But he was the Small Giant of Karasuno! I saw a closeup of his shot and suddenly I could see in colors.  
I reaaaally wanna meet him, but I have no idea where he's gone! No one else seems to either!]

[KENMA (=ＴェＴ=): Oh, I know him, Coach whines about him sometimes. Have you told them that he's your soulmate?]

[Shouyou: Noooo. Like you said, it's kinda private! Plus, he's so much older than me, and who would believe me? So I'm gonna find him on my own! ╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑]

[KENMA (=ＴェＴ=): Good luck, Shouyou. Somehow I think you will.]

o~o~o

It had been quite a long time since Sayeko had experienced the thrum of the Tokyo stadium where the final rounds of volleyball were held. Excitement gripped all of them like a vice, dragging them out of their seats with every spike, making the crowd roar at the absolute trust Hinata had in Kageyama's set.

But the man she'd called in half a dozen favors for still wasn't here, and she was getting pissed.

Being late to a volleyball match wasn't Hiroto's style. Well... It had been almost half a decade since he'd been in a volleyball match, so maybe that was why, but it was still rude.

Ah, Hiroto. The man she'd only known as the Small Giant until very recently when she'd had to call in almost too many favors to get him here. It turned out he still played but refused to at the professional level for one reason or another that she hadn't bothered to learn. What mattered was that he came here for the team.

Part of her wanted him to see this team accomplish what his hadn't been able to- the ultimate battle of the trasheap, in all it's official glory. What they'd all been waiting for. However she mostly wanted the team to use him as encouragement to win it all, Nekoma or not.

Which couldn't happen when he wasn't here, dammit. More than halfway through the match without him showing and she was about ready to strangle somebody.

Meanwhile, at one of the entrances to the stadium, a lone head of black hair slowly appeared. Squeaking footsteps couldn't be heard over the roar of the stadium. Reaching the top of the ramp, Hiroto breathed in deeply before grinning widely and shouldering his drawstring backpack. It'd been too long.

Staring down at the matches, something fast and about his height caught his attention. The uniforms were for Karasuno and some other team he couldn't both remembering the name of. The fast one was from Karasuno, and suddenly they were in the air, eyes closed, color leaking into their skin and hair-

Wait.

Hiroto watched as the boy drifted to the floor, backpack slipping to the floor as he shook. Whatever he'd been expecting, whatever he'd been hoping for, this was so far out of left field he could barely breathe.

Hauling his backpack up again, he rooted through it almost frantically for the piece of paper he'd been given. It had all the information he needed to get to where the Karasuno crew was and he was dying to know who the boy was. What would he think? Would he even know of Hiroto?

He makes his way to Sayeko at record speed, the crowd drowning out any words he could say as he reached them. Nudging her slightly, his eyes were wider than she'd ever seen when she turned to look at him.

Sayeko was gonna snap at him, but his eyes were so bright. She couldn't name what that emotion was, why it made her anger abate for the moment.

"Who is he?" Hiroto mouthed deliberately.

"Who's who?" Sayeko mouthed back, head tilting curiously.

"That number ten on our team. Who?" The crowd quieted just enough for him to be heard as he asked that last question.

"That is why I called you here. Hinata Shouyou's your biggest fan. I'm kinda shocked you picked him our first, but he is just like you."

"He knows me?" And his head was already turned back to the match, drinking in the sight.

"Oh he's got this cute little backstory and everything where he saw a match of yours on the TV and decided to play volleyball just because of you. A lot to live up to, hah!" But then Sayeko paused, taking in the growing emotion she now identified as hope in Hiroto's eyes. "Wait... You can't mean-"

"What color is his hair?" So blunt.

"Orange," Sayeko muttered, staring at him and putting the pieces together. No wonder Hinata had always chased after the Small Giant instead of just admiring him. Asking all those questions about him, getting frustrated when no one seemed to remember his real name. It was so obvious now. Oh god, how must he have felt? When had he seen that match- half a decade ago? Had he been looking for him that long, only to realize no one knew where he was?

Sayeko had personally brought Hinata his soulmate back from the unknown without even realizing it. Holy shit.

o~o~o

The game is finally over, and Karasuno is so excited. They're whooping and hollering and the members on the sideline come rushing onto the court, hugs are given, Hinata is thrown high up into the air, Nishinoya is picked up, Yamaguchi is getting patted on the back so much, Daichi is crying, Suga is also crying, Asahi is screaming with Nishinoya in his hands, it's so intense Hinata almost forgets to breathe.

The victory is only sweeter knowing that Nekoma will be their next match. Finally.

Eventually he managed to wiggle out of the crowd to go celebrate with Kenma, but Sayeko is waving him over insistently. Exchanging a glance with Kenma, he smiles gratefully when Kenma nods slowly and turns back to Lev. Curiosity wins out and he trots closer, head tilted as he looks for a reason she would have called him over.

It only takes him a moment to spot cornflower blue eyes. It's him. It's the Small Giant.

And he's staring at Hinata, clinging to the railing and grinning at him, eyes blazing with intensity. Picking up the pace, Hinata leaps up, hauling himself over the bars right beside the Small Giant. Immediately he just jumps onto him and clings tightly, too happy to think about anything but getting closer.

"I've been looking for you for ages," Hinata breathes into his cheek, eyes closed to the rest of the world and unable to see the stares or hear the murmurs.

The Small Giant returns the favor once he wiggles his arms free from Hinata's vice grip, laughing into Hinata's neck because finally, finally, finally...

Before he knows it, Hinata's being swung around by a man with barely a few centimeters on him, both of them laughing in disbelief.

"Me too," The Small Giant says, looking just as passionate as he had the day Hinata had first seen him. "I've been waiting to find you, Hinata."

"All this time and I don't even know your name!"

"Pfft," The Small Giant laughs, letting Hinata's feet settle back on the ground. "I'm Hiroto. It's nice to finally meet you, Shouyou. I like the color of your hair."

"W-well, I like to color of your eyes. They're blue!"

"I don't actually know any of the colors except orange..."

"Learning them isn't hard. I'll teach you!"

Things rush by like that, trying to make up for the time they'd spent apart. Sayeko gets left behind to explain to everyone else, but she doesn't mind Hiroto owing her another favor or two.

Somehow they end up outside the stadium, pressed together contently as Hinata uses the world around them to teach Hiroto the colors he'd brought into the world.


End file.
